Send "Washed Out " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Atlanta’s Ernest Greene, who records and performs under the moniker Washed Out, has been riding a boatload of hype in the indie rock sphere. He has most notably provided the indie-friendly TV show Portlandia with a theme song in the form of his “Feel It All Around” and, with the release of his first full-length album, Within and Without, it seems that everyone has something to say about the record. Some people seem to either really like it, or really dislike it in equal measure – making it hard to get a cultural reading on the album. On the second front, the record has even attracted the negative attention of outspoken DJ and producer Diplo recently, as he tweeted “Washed [O]ut need to put some starch in the wash cause this album sounds kinda limp.” Ignoring that for a moment, it would seem that there is some level of genuine excitement about the disc partially because it has been made out to be something of a Second Coming for the very loose musical genre known as “chillwave”, which is a lo-fi tag that gets banded about whenever someone puts out an album, usually recorded in a bedroom, that has layers and layers of lush ’80s style keyboards. Well, it might be debatable if Within and Without actually meets that genre tag, because Greene has roped in a fairly big name indie-rock producer, Ben Allen, to helm the boards behind the record – Allen most notably has worked on such laded discs as Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, Deerhunter’s Halcyon Digest and Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere. Therefore, Within and Without is a pretty lush and orchestrated album, and, while it might sound somewhat evocative of trippy ‘80s synth pop crossed with a hint of trip-hop, it paradoxically seems otherworldly and existing in its own place in the musical stratosphere. Don’t let the cover art of a man and woman making out naked from the waist up deceive you at all: Within and Without is really more a soundtrack to foreplay than its up front imagery would lead you to believe. It bounces along in a soft trance-like rhythm at times, and is remarkably gentle without really resorting to much in the way of pure balladry. While it’s hard to say if there’s any real club-baiting anthems to be found on the album, it does percolate at a steady gallop and is wistfully nostalgic for keyboard drenched bands of some 30 years gone, without actually referencing a particular band or style, unlike the recent the Chain Gang of 1974’s Wayward Fire, which was essentially an open love letter to all things New Order and Depeche Mode. That makes Within and Without a bit of a remarkable album: it sounds both new and retro in the same breath as its keyboard laden sound is less icy and cold insomuch as most music from the ‘80s sounded, and much more warm and earth-toned hued. In many ways, Within and Without could be tracked against a sepia-toned black-and-white film and remain incredibly tactile. There are astonishing hues of sound: soft squeaky violins that bubble under the surface of “Far Away”, the slice-and-diced female vocals that provide a backbeat to “Before”, and what appear to be a tambourine and a shaker buried underneath the processed drum machines of “Echoes”. ...full text |
| Musicomh |
| Contrary to a mind-blowing surprise, Ernest Greene has made an album stuffed to the brim with pop songs, all shrouded in reverb, all carrying a message of escapism and all ridiculously catchy. Of course, it could have panned out differently. Ever since his emergence a couple of years back under the Washed Out moniker, Greene has been associated with the “chillwave” tag. At first it was of pleasantry; he was at the helm of a music genre that was positively beaming; so fresh and new – everybody wanted a piece of it. Now, the word is treated like a burning mound of rubber. Nobody wants to be seen within a mile of it. Artists previously pigeonholed and shackled by the term have broken out to release material that’s more in line with '80s pop; funk; anything but chillwave, essentially. Greene, on the other hand, has bided his time and teased a loyal audience with mini-releases and MP3s for them to feast on. Instead of shying away or exploding apart the “chillwave” term by exploring a plethora of alternate routes, he’s begun to rejoice in it all. This is plain to hear on Within And Without. Opener Eyes Be Closed sets a precedent; warm and luscious synth keys glowing from the surface, surrounded by layer upon layer of indecipherable vocals and drum-machine percussion. Like a more refined version of Washed Out’s early material – Feel It All Around and Belong – the whole piece is free, unleashed but ultimately tangible. It works because people can put this on and lose their grip of reality, go to another place entirely. The whole album benefits from a cinematic feel and a sense of escape. Lyrics aren’t lyrics in the strictest sense – instead, they act like instructions on Amor Fati; cries of “relax”, “slow down” spelling out the purpose of the album to the listener: “you’re being offered an experience here, so let go, reach out and grab what you’re being granted”....full text |
| Spin |
| Of all the chillwavers influenced by Panda Bear's Person Pitch who emphasized "beach" over "boys," Ernest Greene became the most ubiquitous, his dreamy "Feel It All Around" spreading from Williamsburg boutiques to Portlandia. For his full-length debut, Greene teams with producer Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley) to revisit his '80s reveries, crafting Balearic bliss ("Eyes Be Closed") and refreshing New Romantic flounce ("Amor Fati"). He even invigorates '90s trip-hop's head-nod ("Before," the title track), making for an even better coast soundtrack....full text |
Washed Out lyrics
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